Welcome to Medical News Today

Healthline Media, Inc. would like to process and share personal data (e.g., mobile ad id) and data about your use of our site (e.g., content interests) with our third party partners (see a current list) using cookies and similar automatic collection tools in order to a) personalize content and/or offers on our site or other sites, b) communicate with you upon request, and/or c) for additional reasons upon notice and, when applicable, with your consent.

Healthline Media, Inc. is based in and operates this site from the United States. Any data you provide will be primarily stored and processed in the United States, pursuant to the laws of the United States, which may provide lesser privacy protections than European Economic Area countries.

By clicking “accept” below, you acknowledge and grant your consent for these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form. Learn more in our Privacy Policy.

Please accept our privacy terms

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience, personalize content and offers, show targeted ads, analyze traffic, and better understand you. We may share your information with third-party partners for marketing purposes. To learn more and make choices about data use, visit our Advertising Policy and Privacy Policy. By clicking “Accept and Continue” below, (1) you consent to these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form, and (2) you consent to allow your data to be transferred, processed, and stored in the United States.

Get the MNT newsletter

Email an article

You have chosen to share the following article:

How elderberries can help you fight the flu

To proceed, simply complete the form below, and a link to the article will be sent by email on your behalf.Note: Please don't include any URLs in your comments, as they will be removed upon submission.

We do not store details you enter into this form. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

Message sent successfully

Novel drug delivery beats swine flu at gene level

Published
Thursday 30 March 2017 Published Thu 30 Mar 2017

Adapted Media Release

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University together with their colleagues from St. Petersburg and London have elaborated a new approach to deliver anti-viral RNAi to target cells against H1N1 influenza virus infection. Drug encapsulating via a combination of layer-by-layer technique and sol-gel chemistry allows beating swine flu at the gene level. The first test showed an 80% drop in virus protein synthesis.

A research was conducted by scientists from the Novel Dosage Laboratory, RASA Center at TPU, Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University, Research Institute of Influenza of Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation and Queen Mary University of London School of Engineering and Materials Science. Scientists from Gorbacheva Research Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantation also took an active part in the research.

A new method to fight influenza A (H1N1) virus is focused on training our body to produce interferons (proteins that make our body immune to the virus) faster.

The obtained results can be applied to a new delivery system of antiviral drugs to fight with various influenza types.

The article Hybrid inorganic-organic capsules for efficient intracellular delivery of novel siRNAs against influenza A (H1N1) virus infection was published in Scientific Reports.

"We used short interfering RNA, which interact with matrix RNA (mRNA) of the influenza virus. This leads to degradation of "viral" RNA, preventing its translation on ribosomes into a protein encoded by it, thereby reducing the viral gene expression," says one of the main co-authors of the research Alexander Timin, a JRF of the Novel Dosage Laboratory at Tomsk RASA Center.

The delivery of microcontainers with short interfering RNA is ensured within the human body through respiratory tract - nasal sinuses. In the sinus cavity the microcontainers degrade and release RNA into cells, which results in the transfection and therefore enhances immunity against influenza virus.

"For the first time we have developed an approach of efficient matrix RNA delivery through encapsulation into new hybrid microcarriers obtained by integration of LbL technique and sol-gel method. Three types of siRNA against influenza A (H1N1) virus infection were encapsulated in hybrid carriers. Such hybrid carriers have several advantages: low toxicity, efficient intracellular delivery and protection of siRNA against premature degradation prior to reaching the target cells. The results obtained may be used for new antiviral delivery that will further contribute to efficient fight with influenza virus," the article reports.

According to scientists, the first laboratory test showed that such interaction results in an 80% drop of virus proteins.

2019 Healthline Media UK Ltd. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.